Companies that realized the importance of data earlier are leading the world now (Looking at you Google!). While every big company is after the data now, its importance is nowhere less in the case of small businesses.

Looking at data helps you analyze different things. For starters, it lets you know whether or not your digital marketing tactics are working and where you can improve.

But not many people know how to look at data metrics. And more importantly, they don’t know what data metrics to look at first.

So let’s look at 7 data metrics that are crucial to your business success, and that can elevate your digital marketing efforts.

Important Data Metrics

Sales Revenue

I know it’s obvious, but many marketers overlook this metric. You’ll find it hard to tie your sales revenue to the actual marketing activities you’re launching. But if you ignore it, you won’t have any clue about the results of your digital marketing efforts.

You can measure your sales revenue correctly in different ways. Having software dedicated to sales data and other key performance indicators (KPI) is a smart move. This way, you’ll see differentiation and a year-to-year increase in your sales. Later, you can use it to elevate your digital marketing campaigns.

Customer Retention Rate

So you are bringing lots of new customers, but how many of them come back after one purchase? Having a pool of recurring customers is cheaper than getting new ones. So you should work on those customers who have bought things from you a few times.

I’m not asking you to abandon going after new customers. But if you get recurring clients, you’ll have top-of-mind awareness. They are more likely to become brand advocates. Think about it: Why would someone keep purchasing from you if they don’t like your brand?

Measuring your customer retention rate is important. The good news is that it’s relatively easy to track, as long as you compile simple information. Later, you can use this information in retargeting campaigns.

Social Media Engagement

You might have seen it coming. Social media gives you the chance to reach billions of customers. Even if you get started on Facebook, you have a pool of approximately 3 billion active monthly users in front of you.

And what do all of these users are looking for? Or at least, what the brands are creating for them? Engagement. It’s arguably the single most important metric for social media.

If you are creating engagement on Facebook, the platform will automatically grow your reach. That’s why brands do all sorts of things, like asking people to bump their posts to get paid likes, to grow engagement.

Like many businesses, your digital marketing campaign might begin and end with social media. So always look at social media engagement when looking at the longevity of your brand and how people interact with your company over time.

For this purpose, you’ll most likely have to put your accounts into a social media scheduling app that will help you with engagement analytics.

You can do it manually as well. Just record the number of likes, shares, and comments on your post. Divide it by your follower count and multiply the result by 100. This gives you the percentage of that post’s engagement rate. Instagram gives around 3-6% rates while Facebook and Twitter benchmarks are more like 0.5-1%.

Cost Per Click (CPC)

At some point, you will run ads. And you’ll encounter that a great way of reaching people is by using methods based on the pay-per-click model. Understanding a metric called Cost Per Click (CPC) is important because it measures the effectiveness of your reach. It also shows if you are overspending or not.

You’ll find it useful in social media, Google Ads, and link-building campaigns. Many platforms will offer you this metric.

Site Traffic

Our list is not a countdown. Otherwise, this should have been at the #1 position.

I think having a website should be the first step for businesses that are looking to have a digital presence. And when you are constantly working on a website, it should drive traffic.

So site traffic becomes a straightforward metric to see a website’s performance. Obviously, there are other things like design and the quality of your writing. But huge amounts of traffics indicate that you are doing a few things right.

Google Analytics is a good tool to analyze this metric with ease. There are many other site plugins that can help you with that. This way, you’ll have a clear image of your brand’s online presence and get the right data from your visitors.

This data is the basis of email marketing. But if you didn’t get a good amount of traffic in the first place, you won’t get any email addresses to get started with email marketing.

Return on Advertising Spend

It’s an ROI metric but specifically for advertisements. Obviously, you want to make more than you spend on ads. But if you ignore this metric, your investment might go down the drain.

And if you analyze it, it lets you know which of your channel strategies is most effective. It also helps you to determine how and where your money should be spent.

Conversion Rates

And finally, you want to look at the percentage of visitors to your website who complete the desired goal. Higher rates mean that your marketing campaign is working. And lower rates mean that you should fix something.

What’s the most important data metric in this list? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.